Update: Though many of the new guard of It models have remained quiet in the face of criticism from their predecessors, Kendall Jenner is speaking out. Jenner responded to what she calls "The Supermodel Debate" on her website, and she's got quite a few thoughts on recent comments made by Stephanie Seymour. Unsurprisingly, Jenner wasn't too pleased with how the '90s catwalk regular designated her, Hadid, and the like as "bitches of the moment" — especially since Jenner previously had looked up to Seymour.
"If you're going to tell us not to be in 'your moment,' then don't be in mine," Jenner writes. "But, if you choose to be a cyberbully, I'm going to stick up for myself." She argues that being called supermodels in 2016 "doesn't take anything away from supermodels of the past" — and just because their fame is different than what it would've been two-and-a-half decades ago, it doesn't mean that this new crop of catwalk and campaign stars doesn't work hard. Preach, Kendall.
This story was originally published on June 11, 2016.
Long before Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid owned the runways, dominated Instagram, captivated on Snapchat, and became the most wanted celebrity brand ambassadors around, the fashion world bowed down to the original '90s supermodels: Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Linda Evangelista, Stephanie Seymour, and Christy Turlington.
Now, two decades later, some of the OG supermodels who helped to coin the very term aren't too sure this socially savvy new generation have really earned their stripes. Naomi Campbell and photographer Steven Meisel have, at times, dismissed them as "Instagirls." Earlier this year, former model Rebecca Romijn said that the new generation's crop, including Jenner and Hadid, “are not true supermodels,” but mere "social media stars" — a statement she, in all fairness, later claimed was misconstrued. And this Thursday, at the amfAR Inspiration Gala in New York, Stephanie Seymour weighed in with a few friendly comparisons and a suggestion for a new term entirely.
“They are completely different than we were,” Seymour told Vanity Fair. “Supermodels are sort of the thing of the past. They deserve their own title. [Kendall and Gigi] are beautiful girls, and I support all of them, but they need their own title.”
What, pray tell, should that new title be, exactly? “Bitches of the moment!” Seymour laughingly told the magazine. “That would be a good title for them.”
“I gave up my childhood and worked very, very hard from the time I was 14, and there was a lot of pressure to succeed — especially when I was younger,” Seymour said of her time in the fashion spotlight. “It was hard, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s made me who I am today and I’m proud of my career and what I have accomplished.”
But for what it's worth, designer and fellow amfAR Inspiration Gala attendee Zac Posen has Jenner and Hadid's backs. “They are certainly supermodels, and they are absolutely representative of the global social-media movement that we are living in,” he told the magazine. “I think they work very hard and are concentrated and driven. So, I think they are pretty big superstars.”
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